Bergeron leads Bruins to 4-3 win over Buffalo

Patrice Bergeron had three assists in regulation and the game-winner in the shootout on Saturday to lead the defending Stanley Cup champion Bruins into the postseason with a 4-3 victory over the Buffalo Sabres.

They walked out of TD Garden not even knowing that they’d meet the Washington Capitals in the first round of the playoffs.

It didn’t matter. What was important to the Bruins was that they felt ready for the playoffs, and their bid to become the first team to repeat as Stanley Cup champions since the Detroit Red Wings in 1997 and ’98.

“We took it seriously, we worked hard, we worked within our system, within our strength,” Patrice Bergeron said after his shootout goal gave the Bruins a 4-3 victory over Buffalo in a regular-season finale that capped Boston’s season-ending run of 9-2-1. “That’s how we’re successful, and that’s how we need to play heading into the playoffs.”

Although Tyler Seguin scored his team-high 28th and 29th goals and became the youngest player in franchise history to lead the team in scoring (67 points), his center was the best player on the ice Saturday, and closed a tremendous season of his own.

Bergeron’s three assists gave him a team-leading 42 for the season, his plus-2 left him at an NHL-best plus-36 for the year, and only a somewhat average day in the faceoff circle (10-for-20) kept him from leading the league in that category, too: His winning percentage of 59.3 was a fraction behind that of Chicago’s Jonathan Toews’ 59.4.

Typically, Bergeron set up two scoring plays via his defensive excellence: He turned a center-ice steal against Buffalo’s Jason Pominville into a 2-on-1 rush and pass that Seguin converted for the game’s first goal at 3:15 of the second period, and he later knocked the puck off the stick of Tyler Ennis to linemate Brad Marchand, who scored the tying goal with 7:39 left in regulation.

“It would have been easy for him to throw in the towel like a lot of people do, and just say ‘I’m going to go out there and just be OK. I don’t want to get hurt. I want to make sure I’m fresh for the playoffs,’” coach Claude Julien said.

“But (Bergeron) went out there ... led by example, wanted to be the best player out there. That’s what you get out of him every day – not just every game, but every day.”

The Bruins, Northeast Division champions and long locked into the No. 2 playoff seed in the Eastern Conference, could have thrown in the towel, as well. Former Bruin Brad Boyes’ second goal of the game, followed 1:44 later by Pominville’s 30th of the year, gave Buffalo a 3-1 lead with only 11:14 left in the Sabres’ season (they were eliminated from contention on Thursday night), and that much time before the B’s could begin to focus solely on the playoffs.

The B’s fought back, though: Seguin’s second of the game, a rocket that beat Jhonas Enroth (37 saves) during a Boston power play, came just 1:10 after Pominville’s goal; Marchand scored his 28th less than three minutes later.

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“We wanted to finish on a good note,” Marchand said. “We showed the character we need, going into the playoffs.”

The goaltending the B’s will need was also on display. Tim Thomas (25 saves), while perhaps at fault for leaving a rebound for Boyes to convert in the third, stop all three shots he faced in the shootout. Thomas, who didn’t dress for the previous two games, went 6-1-1 in his last eight.

“I’ve been catching my breath,” said last year’s playoff MVP, who didn’t dress for the Bruins’ two previous games. “It was good to get back in a game right before the playoffs.

“Now we have a few days to prepare, and hopefully be able to hit the ground running.”

Around the boards: Julien said he “didn’t see any reason reason right now” that injured defenseman Johnny Boychuk (knee) “shouldn’t be ready for the start” of the playoffs, but was less certain about defenseman Adam McQuaid’s status. McQuaid, removed from Tuesday’s game at Ottawa after missing the previous three with a cut near his left eye, is “day-to-day,” said the coach. “He’s jut a little off right now.” ... Chris Kelly was the only Bruin to play all 82 games.

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